


Rymazian Week Ficlets

by ummmmm (sumhowe_sailing)



Category: EOS 10 (Podcast), Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Angst, Levi's and Jane's shenanigans, M/M, Season 3 Spoilers, canon-typical references to Ryan's penis, everyone's favorite explosive expert sort of visits the station
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-08-05 23:37:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16377209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sumhowe_sailing/pseuds/ummmmm
Summary: I'm sticking (loosely) to the Rymazian Week prompts:Day 1  Overdone trope // Meet cuteDay 2  Comedy // TragedyDay 3  Crossover // Alternate universeDay 4  Intimacy // TrustDay 5  Cohabitation // SeparationDay 6  Spooky // SweetDay 7  Free space





	1. Time Refused to Stop

The thing about suddenly knowing you exist in a fractured way, the universe just endless variations on a theme, is that it’s no longer crazy to wonder about all the ways something could have gone differently. Because somewhere, somewhen, it went that way. 

Often, in the nights following this grand revelation, Ryan would stay awake, kept up by thoughts of the million ways he’d met Akmazian. In one iteration, perhaps, they’d bumped into each other at a grocery store. In another, maybe, they’d known each other their entire lives. In another, they’d hooked up in college after a party. They’d been assigned on a rescue mission together–the captain, the surgeon. They’d met at the beach, on vacation. They’d met in the operating room while Ryan saved his life. They’d met because someone dropped something and they both bent to pick it up. They’d been caught in the rain and only one of them had an umbrella. They’d met in a coffee shop, in an art gallery, in the street. They’d seen each other across a crowded room and time had stopped.

And time had stopped.

And time had stopped.

He tried not to think about all the lives in which they’d never met. All the lives in which they’d walked past each other and never said hello. Or sat by each other in a train or a waiting room; two perfect strangers trying not to take up too much space. Or the lives in which they’d only ever existed across the galaxy from each other, blissfully unaware. Or the lives in which they’d met, once, but hadn’t made any impression on each other at all. Those were the hardest to think about. The lives in which they’d come close enough to have a life together, and let it slide back out of reach.

There was a life in which Ryan had found him in the cargo bay, turned him over, and been responsible for Akmazian’s death.

There was a life in which Akmazian had shot him without hesitation.

There was a life in which he hadn’t worked so hard to make it complicated and they’d had time–precious, precious time–to be happy.

There was a life in which Ryan had seen Akmazian on trial, seen him sentenced, they’d locked eyes across the court room and time had recklessly refused to stop. He was powerless to save him. He saw him executed and prepared his body for disposal.

But there was only one of these he got to experience. Only one story they’d gotten to live. It was a crazy, wild, agonizing story; but it was theirs. And as far as stories go, he felt lucky. After all, who else had a story like that?


	2. Comedy

“Are you  _ sure _ you can’t reach your knife?”   
“I told you, darlin’, I’m only human.”

“Well why’d you drop it in the first place?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Uggh. Fine.” Ryan fumed in silence for a few minutes, frustrated at his helplessness. He shouldn’t be surprised to find himself in such a ridiculous situation. He really shouldn’t. Tied up in a net in a maintenance shaft with the galaxy’s most notorious criminal--who doesn’t even have a knife to cut them free? Typical Tuesday. 

“Any ideas?” Akmazian prompted.

“Kill Levi?”

“Trust me, darlin’, as soon as we get out of here, I will. But until then…”

“Is the Interface active down here?”   
Akmazian laughed.

“Didn’t think so.”

There was another silence as they both pondered other ways to free themselves from this stupid, stupid trap.

“Are you  _ certain-- _ ”

“I can’t reach the knife!”

“You didn’t even try!”

“Fine!” Akmazian huffed, jerking around in the net trying to get his arm through the hole closest to the ground. It was a futile effort--the holes were much too small, the ground much too far away. And in the process, as Akmazian writhed around, the jostling made Ryan extremely aware of the fact that he was basically sitting on this man. By the time Akmazian gave it up and tried to claw his way back into a semi-upright position, their legs were hopelessly entangled. And then his hand slipped, and he fell heavily against Ryan’s chest. And it should have made him angry or annoyed or anything sensible like that. Instead… oh god. No.  _ No _ . This was  _ not _ the time to be--

“That a knife in your pocket, doctor, or--”

“If you finish that sentence, I swear to  _ everything _ I will kill you.”

Akmazian pushed himself off of Ryan (as much as he could), trying to lean back casually with that infernally smug look of his. Which might have worked much better if he’d actually been able to lean back. As much as he hated himself for it, Ryan missed the warmth of being pressed tightly against him. He tried to compensate by glaring with as much fury as he could muster. Akmazian’s smirk broke into a grin.

“Aw come on, love. If we can’t get out, we may as well get comfortable.”

“Drop. It.”

“Alright, alright. Just thought maybe you’d want me to help you out with that little problem. Wouldn’t be the first time, would it?”   
“That’s not--shut up--any of your business.”

“What’s not?” Akmazian asked, as innocently as he knew how.

“My… It’s just not.”

“Whatever you say.”

There was a protracted pause, which, to Ryan at least, grew more and more uncomfortable every moment. Akmazian didn’t seem to be in any rush to liberate them, and now that Ryan suspected  _ why, _ he was in more of a rush than ever.

“What about anything else?”   
“Hmm?”   
“You can’t get your knife, fine, whatever, but what about anything else? A blaster, a scalpel, nail clippers, I don’t know,  _ anything _ .”

“Nail clippers?”

“Shut up.”

“A scalpel? You think, between the two of us,  _ I _ would have a scalpel?”

“Again, shut up.”

While Akmazian laughed quietly, Ryan was wondering how they would get out of this one. And wondering who, somewhere safe and warm and definitely not entangled with a terrorist, was watching this and realizing they would win the betting pool. Probably Jane.


	3. Crossover - Wolf 359

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So if the Wolf 359 doppelgangers are reconstructed during especially strong activity from the star, where did Jacobi's double end up?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a week late - it's been crazy busy this month - but I wanted to finish the prompt set. They're all going to be unedited 10 minute drabbles, but it's better than nothing, right?

“There’s a _what_ in the station?”

“A bomb? Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of bombs before, doctor. After all the time you’ve spent with Levi, I’d have thought—“

“I know what a bomb is, Jane. What’s it doing on the station?”

“After all the time you’ve spent with Levi, I’d—“

“Jane! Are you saying that Levi installed an active bomb on this station? I don’t want to have to court martial him, but if he—“

“Surprisingly, I don’t think it was Levi.”

“Then who was it?”

“If we knew that, don’t you think we’d have taken care of it already instead of just evacuating?”

“Fine. Fine. So what do we know about it? Do we know where it is?”

“Well, that’s actually why I was looking for you.”

“Why?”

“Weeeeell…”

“Jane, what’s going on?”  
“Initial sweeps seem to indicate it’s probably down in the cargo bay.”

“The cargo bay. But—“

“Yeah. You might want to give him a call.”

 

Ryan extracted every further detail he possibly could from Jane before kicking her out so he could call Akmazian to warn him. It wasn’t much to go on. The Interface had reported a bomb threat, there was no footage substantiating it, but so much of the station was lacking camera coverage that that didn’t really matter. They were guessing someone snuck into a cargo bay and planted it there, but it was only a guess based on some strange readings. Ryan couldn’t follow all the technicalities, but he got the gist of it: bomb.

He’d forgotten about Akmazian in too many emergencies before. He was always the last one Ryan thought of evacuating or warning, and probably the first to be in imminent danger. And Akmazian wouldn’t let him forget about it. It was only fair for Ak to hold that over him at times. How often had his life hung in the balance when all Ryan would have had to do was send him a message? Thirty seconds of Ryan’s time, and Akmazian would have slept safer on so many occasions. So he called him. He expected a ‘thank you’. He expected some gentle ribbing. What he did not expect when he declared a potential bomb threat, was for Akmazian to laugh and say, “Yeah, you want me to introduce you?”

There was a twelve second silence before Ryan’s brain acknowledged that he couldn’t have heard that right.

“Excuse me?”

“Your bomb threat. You wanna meet him?”

“I don’t understand.”

From what sounded like a distance, Ryan heard a voice that was definitely not Akmazian’s say something about blowing the station to kingdom come.

“Ak, what the hell is going on down there?”

“Well, about an hour ago this fine fellow—“ he paused so Ryan could hear the stranger yelling about the impossibility of the station’s existence, “crashed into my humble abode, and for some reason it doesn’t seem to be to his liking.”

“Who is he?”

“No idea. He said his name was Daniel, but then he said he also might not be Daniel. Not getting a whole lot of clear details from him.”

“Does he actually have a bomb?”

“He didn’t.”

“Didn’t?”

“Apparently it doesn’t take much to make a bomb. Pretty sophisticated, too, as far as I can tell.”

“You just stood there and let him make a _bomb_?!”

“I didn’t realize what he was doing. I thought he was just fidgeting. Hasn’t stopped fidgeting since he got here. Surprisingly steady trigger finger, though.”

While Ryan tried to parse that out, the background yelling got closer and, maybe, a little calmer. And then, abruptly, that second voice was almost as close as Akmazian’s. And in an almost level tone, it asked who Akmazian was talking too.

“My friend.”

“Yeah? What’s your friend’s name?”

“Ryan.”

“I had a friend once. Well, I _thought_ I had a friend once. Turns out, people are bastards and you can’t trust them. If I blew this station to pieces right now, I’d be doing all of you a favor. None of you would ever have to stop and wonder anymore.”

“I don’t think murder is generally considered a favor.”

The stranger actually snorted. “Yeah, well, clearly you’ve never worked for Godard. But hey, I may have also never worked for Godard. I have all the memories of working there, _all of them_ , I have the scars, I have the guilt—but it might not have been me. Do you know how terrifying that is?”

“Uhhhh…” It was the first time Ryan had heard Akmazian lost for words. So he interjected.

“Listen, I’m not sure what your story is—“

“Weren’t you listening?” The man shot back, voice suddenly low and dangerous. “I’m not sure either. That’s the problem. That’s _exactly_ what’s wrong here. No one knows! No one, not even me!”

“Okay, okay, I get it.”

“Do you?”

“Not really. But I understand what the problem is.”

“No! No you don’t understand! Have you ever listened to your only friend deciding in real time to let you die in the cold vacuum of space _just in case_ you’re not you?”

“Um, no. No, I have not done that.”

“Well I have!”

“I’m sorry.”

“You—what?” The man sounded taken aback. Genuinely surprised by this small show of basic sympathy.

“I’m sorry that you had to go through that.”

“Why?”

Ryan was amazed by the venom and the angry suspicion laced into that one syllable. Whatever this man had gone through, it must have been hell.

“Because that sounds awful. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

“You…wouldn’t?”

“Of course not.”

The conversation only got stranger from there. Ryan was as soothing as he knew how to be, Akmazian was shockingly sympathetic, and the stranger, who decided he was in fact going by Daniel, kept vaulting between paranoid contempt and a barely repressed desire to bask in their kindness. Eventually, Ryan tried to convince him to disarm the bomb. The stranger openly laughed.

“There’s no bomb.”

“What?”

“There’s no bomb. Oldest trick in the book. If you don’t have the tools you need, just fake it. It gets the same results.”


	4. Trust

The strange part wasn’t the bizarre situation he found himself in. By now, absurdly intricate traps and death threats were no longer particularly noteworthy in Dr. Dalias’s life. He wasn’t cavalier about it while they were happening, of course, but after the issue was resolved, he just…didn’t think about them anymore. He had too much else going on to get hung up on every kidnapping and bomb threat.

The strange part was that before it was even over, Ryan knew that _this_ one was going to keep him up at night for weeks to come. And why? Because when he and Levi and Akmazian had been lured aboard this strange craft, when Levi had been pulled away and he’d been left alone with Akmazian in a sealed room, when Akmazian had managed to break out and steal an escape pod, Ryan hadn’t been worried. Akmazian’s mere presence had been so oddly reassuring. As if nothing truly bad could happen while Akmazian was with him. And when they’d realized someone needed to stay behind to save Levi, Akmazian had promised he’d be back with help within the hour. He’d said “Trust me.” And Ryan did. Even once Akmazian was out of sight, Ryan wasn’t worried. He knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that he would come back. That he would save them.

Trust. It wasn’t a luxury he’d afforded himself often. It certainly wasn’t something he’d bestowed consciously, deliberately. It had just…happened. He hadn’t even known it was there. And now that he did, it was incredibly distracting. How could he track Levi down in this labyrinthine spaceship while his mind kept wandering back to Akmazian? How could he pay attention to potential hiding spots as he moved through the corridors, when he felt invincible knowing Akmazian was coming back? It was so absurd, so profoundly illogical—but there it was. Trust. Pure and simple. Or not so simple. He wasn’t sure yet.

And when Akmazian did come back, and when they were all safe and their captors subdued and arrested, when Jane had finished crowing over her triumphant victory and their foolishness in getting kidnapped in the first place, Ryan found himself alone with Akmazian for the first time since this grand realization.

“You alright, Dr. Dalias?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m just…”

“Quite a day.”

“Akmazian?” he blurted before he could stop himself, “do you trust me?”

The idea of anyone feeling so absolutely confident in _him_ as he suddenly felt in the man before him was dizzying, and terrifying, and he needed to know. The question had sprung up from nowhere and seized his mind and he couldn’t shake it; he _needed_ to know.

“With my life,” Akmazian winked.

Huh. Strange.

And maybe that was it. Maybe that was what he’d been waiting on. That absolute confidence. That strange, strange connection that seemed so unshakable in this moment.

“I trust you too.”

It wasn’t quite what he’d meant to say. But for now, it would have to do.


	5. A Distance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> spoilers for season four's first episode

There’s a distance that feels impenetrable when you’re in love. And then there’s a distance that  _ is _ impenetrable. And finding out what you thought was one is in fact the other… that messes with you. Suddenly finding out that someone who thought you would see again is just gone. Not for a day or a month or a rotation, but forever. So irretrievably gone that, as far as everyone else is concerned, they never even existed. It wasn’t something Ryan knew how to deal with. Even if everything else he thought he knew hadn’t also been shattered and put back together in a new, unfamiliar way, just losing Akmazian would have hurt enough. 

He didn’t sleep anymore. As long as he stayed awake, stayed in this brain, he could remember Akmazian. He would stubbornly carry the memory of his lost friend into the new day. But if he slept, he lost control. If he slept, he might wake up in another brain, another set of memories--one that didn’t have Akmazian in them anywhere. He couldn’t bear that. Couldn’t bear the thought that he might not even know he’d forgotten.

There were nights when lying in bed trying not to sleep was impossible. The first time this happened, he had journeyed down to the cargo bay--but seeing it so impossibly empty, smelling nothing but rust--it was a sullen confirmation that the world had moved on. He felt left behind. He knew it was not a choice Akmazian had made, but he felt abandoned anyway. He’d finally cried then. Sobbed and screamed and kicked the uncaring wall.

After that, he stuck to the upper levels. The promenade. Anywhere with people. Strangers and coffee. It was all that kept him going those nights.

 

It’s a myth that time heals all wounds. All it really does is kill. But it’s a comforting, forgiving myth and one that might have explained why Ryan found himself happily on a date so short a time later. He had started sleeping again. Stopped spending midnights in coffee shops. He’d moved on. Not forgotten, but made peace with the memories. He had been given a choice, and he choose to say goodbye. There is a distance that cannot be breached, no matter how much love is on the line. Suddenly finding out that the distance you thought was undeniable has been denied...that messes with you. 

When Maddox told him the Silent Storm was in the cargo bay, everything stopped. His brain melted, He was yelling, and Maddox was still talking but he had no idea what he was saying. It was panic and relief and rage and joy and a desperate, desperate sadness all in one, crashing over him in waves. It was everything he had longed for and it was the worst thing that could have happened. Everything was a lie all over again, but Akmazian was  _ here _ . He was  _ back _ . Or--

The ship had been there for months. Maybe rotations. Abandoned. He  _ had _ been here, but he was still gone. Abandoned. All over again. Everything had changed except for that. He was still alone.

“Ryan? Are you okay?” Maddox was looking at him with such care and concern. But what could he possibly say to that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> better late than never?


	6. Spooky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a few months late for Halloween, but the idea still appealed to me so...

“You want me to wear what?”

“Come on, it’s not that ridiculous.”

“Is this some kind of joke?”

“No! It’s a tradition.”

“A--what?”

“A tradition? You know, ritualistic thing people have done for--”

“I know what a tradition is, doctor, but I have  _ never _ seen you dressed up as a--a--a whatever that’s supposed to be before!”

Akmazian crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow as he said this, as if the argument were the soundest thing anyone had ever said. Ryan rolled his eyes.

“It’s a  _ Halloween _ tradition. October thirty-first.”

“Dressing up as a--”

“As anything. On earth, in some countries, on Halloween children dress up as whatever they want and go around trick-or-treating. Adults dress up too, they just don’t get free candy for it.” 

“Akmazian was momentarily speechless. Ryan didn’t usually talk about Earth. And he had never spoken about Earth traditions or holidays, at least not to him.

“I’ll bite. Tell me more.”

“More?”

“Yeah, more. Why do people dress up?”

“Well, because it’s a--”

“A tradition?”

“Right. And where did that come from?”

“Uh, well, people say that in ancient times parents thought goblins or ghosts or something were going to steal their children, but--” as Ryan tried to remember the history and fumbled his way through the follow-up questions, he realized how absurd it was and how much he was not helping his case. All he had wanted was a small Halloween party, just a little reminder of home. And for Akmazian to dress up as a knight in shining armor. 

 

As they argued, Akmazian realized that Ryan was looking more and more deflated. At first, his own relentless stubbornness kept him arguing. But then it hit him that this was something genuinely important to Ryan and he was being an asshole. It was so rare for Ryan to care so much about something so arbitrary--shouldn’t he just shut up and put on the damn costume?

“Ryan--”

“No, don’t Ryan me, I’m just saying that--”

“I know. Listen.”

“You listen!”

“I will. But let me say this first. I’ve got a compromise.”

Ryan looked taken aback. Taking advantage of the momentary pause, Akmazian pressed on.

“I will not put  _ that _ on,  _ but _ I will wear a costume.”

“Let me guess. Pirate?”

“No! Robin Hood.”

“Robin Hood?”

“Yes, Robin Hood. We’ve been over this. Old Earth legend? Robbed from--”

“I know who Robin Hood is. I was just--surprised.”

“So?”

“Yeah. Yeah, that works.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is really, really short and I'm very, very rusty. semi-spoilers for season four.

It took getting used to. Ryan had spent so much of his life denying to himself that he could possibly have feelings for a guy. So suddenly finding himself in love with two? It was--different. Scary. Exciting. Very confusing but somehow in a good way.

Oh there was also the small matter of one being a wanted criminal and the other being the station’s head of security.

Ryan hadn’t intended to introduce them. When Maddox had told him about the Silent Storm in the cargo bay, he’d made it sound like it was abandoned. Ryan had insisted on going down there with him--he had to see the ship with his own eyes. He hadn’t expected Akmazian to actually be there. It had taken everything he had not to fall apart at the sight of him. And even more to convince Maddox not to arrest him.

It had been an awkward meeting. No one came out of it looking good or feeling happy. Ryan still didn’t understand why Maddox had acquiesced and let him stay. Or why Maddox had asked him to come back with him the next day. 

“Call it a peace conference,” Maddox had shrugged when pressed for a reason.

Ryan was suspicious, but returned to the cargo bay all the same. Much to his surprise, Maddox really did seem to have peaceful intentions. It was still uncomfortable, sitting there with Maddox and Akmazian, trying to be on both sides.

The third time was easier, but it wasn’t until the fourth such visit that Ryan understood he didn't have to pick a side. Maddox wasn’t trying to make him choose. And then--then Akmazian flirted with Maddox and everything made sense.

“Is this--a date?” he blurted out, a complete non sequitur.

Akmazian raised an eyebrow but Maddox just laughed.

The conversation was acutely, painfully awkward for a while, but by the time they left the cargo bay, it was--settled. It was good. They were good.

  
Everything got easier after that. There were still strange and sometimes difficult conversations ahead of them, but when Ryan was there with them both, in their arms, it was worth it. Everything made sense here and he could not remember the last time he’d been so happy.    



End file.
